Where the Long Grass Blows (1976)

by L'amour, Louis

  "I know. Ever since you told me about that awful hole, I've been frightened of it. I keep thinking of how awful it would be to be trapped down there, to get your foot caught in the rocks, or something like that It would be frightful!"

  "It would be the end!" Canavan agreed grimly.

  "When that geyser or whatever it is shoots up there, it sometimes brings rocks that must weigh fifty or sixty pounds. And they rattle around in that cave like seeds in a gourd. You wouldn't have to have a foot caught, either. All you would have to do is be just a few steps too far away from the mouth of the cave. You wouldn't have a chance!"

  They were riding down the mesa through the aspens as they talked, the graceful trunks of the trees like slim, alabaster columns. The trail was carpeted with the gold of fallen leaves, and even as they rode other leaves came drifting down around them.

  Dixie drew in at a wide place in the trail to look over the valley below. "Somehow it was like some dreadful dream," she said suddenly. I mean when Star came. Tom and I had been so happy there on the ranch, really happy. We were working with the men, building some for ourselves and for the future, learning all the new things about the west Tom loved working with stock, particularly the horses. And then, when we were happiest, Star Levitt came to the ranch, "You can't imagine what a shock it was to us, for we believed all that had been left behind and forgotten.

  Our brother, the oldest one of the family, had gone to Mexico and gotten mixed up with a girl down there and started using dope. He'd always been father's favorite, and we all loved him, but Ralph had always been weak and easily led. Levitt got a hold on him and used his name for a front to peddle dope in the States.

  "Father had been ill for a long time with a heart condition that grew steadily worse. He had just two things left to live for. One was pride of family, and the other was his children. Actually, that meant Ralph.

  "We knew what had happened in Mexico and we knew about Star Levitt, but we kept it from Dad.

  And later, when Ralph was killed down there, we managed to keep the facts of the story from him. We knew the shock and the disgrace would kill him, and if by some chance he did live, the shame and disgrace would have ruined his last years. And he'd been a good father to us all.

  "We were foolish, of course, but it is hard to know what to do in a situation like that, and one's very indecision works against one.

  "Star came to the ranch and greeted us like longlost friends. Then he told us he needed the ranch for a couple of months as a working base. He said he was no longer handling narcotics, only cattle. If he could use the ranch to hold his cattle for two months, then he would leave. If we did not consent, he promised he would get the news to our father, exposing the whole disgraceful affair and making sure our father heard it all.

  "We were foolish, of course, but it was hard to know what to do. And when it came right down to it, there was nothing we could do. When he arrived, Emmett Chubb was with him. So was Kerb Dahl, and of course, that Turner. A few hours later, Voyle, Tolman and some others rode in.

  "He simply moved in, took over, ran our honest hands off, and we were prisoners on our own ranch.

  They would never let us leave together unless they were with us. One of us was always kept at the ranch, so "nothing foolish would be done," as Star phrased it "There was nobody we could go to for help.

  Pogue and Reynolds were fighting each other, but they themselves were outlaws, or but little better. Until you came, we were alone."

  "Don't I know it?" Canavan commented. "When I heard about this place and started digging into the background, I found fewer decent people in this Valley than anywhere I'd ever been. And the few good people there were had no power. They were on small holdings or had small businesses, and the law almost never came up."

  "After Star had been here a few weeks, he decided to stay. He was shrewd enough to know he could not keep on forever as he had been. He realized what was happening between Reynolds and Pogue and saw his chance to seize power and wealth. Just when we thought we were going to be rid of him, he decided to remain."

  They rode on in silence then, their horses' hoofs making almost the only sound. Then suddenly they were opposite the entrance to the lava bed trail.

  Dixie laughed. "All right, Billl As long as we are here, why don't we ride in? We can be out before dark, as you said yourself."

  He hesitated, then turned Rio toward the lava beds. "All right," he said. "Have it your own way."

  Yet he did not like it. And as he looked up at the towering cliffs, almost meeting overhead, he liked it even less.

  He did not like to be trapped, and liked to go no place where he did not see another way out.

  Even Dixie was quiet when she rode between the high, dark walls. A cool wind blew upon them, but she was not sure if it was the wind or the walls that made her shiver.

  Rio, usually eager for any adventure, was reluctant.

  Yet they rode in. And went deeper and deeper into the dark, secret way.

  All sound was left behind, and they could see only a narrow strip of sky. Canavan swore softly ... wishing he had not been so weak as to allow her to persuade him. He looked up, and the walls seemed to close above him like the jaws of some great monster.

  Chapter XVIII

  Once started into the narrow crevasse, there was no turning back. For much of the distance, there was no place with sufficient room to turn a horse.

  When they reached the deepest part, where in some bygone age an earthquake or some other great convulsion of the earth had split the rim of the crater deep into the bed-rock, Canavan pointed out the great crags suspended over the trail "Someday," he suggested, "this place will become inaccessible. Some earthquake, or perhaps even the jar of an explosion of some sort, and those rocks will fill this cleft so there will be no way out.

  "From down here it looks as if a man with a bar could easily dislodge one of them. I never ride in here without getting the creeps at the thought. They are just laying up there, and need only the slightest jar to come roaring and tumbling down."

  Tilting her head back, Dixie could see what he meant. And for the first time she really understood Canavan's hesitation at bringing her in here, and she regretted her insistence. One great slab that must have weighed hundreds of tons seemed to be hanging suspended, for no reason she could make out.

  It was an awesome feeling to be riding down here, with no sound but the click of their horses' hoofs, and with those enormous rocks suspended above them.

  Once within the crater itself, Dixie forgot her fears in the excitement over the sheer beauty and grandeur of the place. The towering cliffs, the long sweeping meadows, the running stream and the great masses of clouds piled up over the mountains, all served to create the extraordinary sense of peace the place held.

  It was warm and pleasant in the sunlight, and they rode without talking, just absorbing the beauty and the stillness. The red and brindle cattle had become more tame due to the frequency of the visits, and although wary, they seemed to welcome their presence.

  "There were more cattle down here than I'd believed," Canavan said. "And there must be branch canyons and coves in the cliffs that I haven't seen.

  There's an old crater in northern New Mexico that is much greater than this one, although not as spectacular."

  "Where are the ice caves? Roily was telling me about the crystals."

  For two hours they rambled around the crater, in and out of the ice caves. They found several caves where the cattle had been going to drink, and undoubtedly had occasionally taken shelter from storms.

  Suddenly, as they were about to leave, Dixie caught at Canavan's sleeve. "Billl Look."

  It was a boot track, small but quite deep.

  Her breath caught with fear. "Bill? It might be ... Could it have been Roily Burt?"

  "No, it wasn't Roily." Mentally he was cursing himself for ever having brought her here. "That foot is smaller than either Mabry or Burt, and the man who made it is heavier. Let's get out of
here."

  When they were out of the cave, he could see the pallor of her face in the last of the sunlight.

  He glanced at the sky, surprised at the sudden shadows although it was drawing on toward the end of the afternoon. Great, bulging thunderheads loomed over the crater, piling up in ominous masses. It was going to rain, and rain hard.

  Leading the way, he started for the horses, every sense alert. He saw no one. His movements started the cattle drifting again, and as they reached the horses, he told her, glancing at the sky, "You go ahead. I think I'll start some more of the cattle while I'm at it"

  "You can't do it alone!" she protested.

  "I'll try. You head for home now. You'll get soaked."

  "Nonsense! I have my slicker, and" her voice faded and her eyes fastened on something beyond Canavan's shoulder, widening with fear and shock.

  He knew instantly what it was she saw, and for one fleeting moment he considered drawing as he turned. But he realized that Dixie would be right in the line of fire.

  "Really, you know," it was Star Levitt's voice, "this is most opportune!"

  It was Levitt's voice, all right, but there was something in it that had a different tone, less of assurance and more than a hint of wildness. Something perhaps like madness ... or was he imagining things?

  He turned slowly, and when his eyes met those of Levitt, he knew the worst All the neatness was gone. The white hat was soiled and stained, his shirt was dirty, his face unshaved. He still had the large, really magnificent eyes, but now there was a light of insanity in them. Bill Canavan knew that the line that separates the sane from the insane had always been thinly drawn in this man. Defeat and frustration had been all that was needed to push him across the shadow-line.

  "Oh, this is perfect!" Levitt said. "Today we will make a clean sweep. I get you, and later, Dixie! And while I am doing you in, Chubb and Berdue will finish off Mabry and Burt. They are up on the mesa now, waiting for them."

  "On the mesa? They'll never surprise the boys there. Whenever one of us has not been on the mesa all day, we are extremely careful. We've been expecting you, Levitt."

  "Have you now? Well, of course you have! But, you see, we found something you do not know. We found a cave up there, an ideal spot. And right there they will wait until they can catch your men off guard tonight."

  "A cave?" Canavan felt horror well up within him. His scalp prickled at the thought. Much as he disliked the two men, he had no wish to see any living thing trapped in that place. "A cave? You found a cave on the mesa?"

  "We were all going to wait there until I saw you leaving with Dixie. It was too good a chance to miss. Besides," he glanced at Dixie, "I wanted her alone. She needs to be taught a lesson."

  "Levitt," Canavan spoke quietly, "you are mad, you know? That cave where those men are hiding is a death trap! If they aren't within a few feet of the entrance, they haven't a chance to get out of there alive. Didn't you see that black hole in the center?

  That's a geyser, or something similar. Those men will be trapped and drowned!"

  Levitt's smile vanished. "That's a lie, of course.

  But even if it isn't, it will not matter.

  I need them no longer, and Mabry and Burt ... well, they are small fry.

  It was you two that I wanted."

  Canavan had shifted his position slightly and was now facing Levitt. He had done this simply by shifting his weight from one leg to the other, and moving his right foot a couple of inches in the process.

  It was all he needed.

  His heart was pounding slowly, heavily. He knew he had no choice. He must draw and he must take a chance on beating Levitt to the shot. He himself would be hit, of that he was sure. But regardless of that, he must kill Star Levitt.

  Wes Hardin and others had beaten men to the draw while covered, for there is such a thing as reaction time, and a split second could make all the difference. He knew how tremendously the odds were against him, but although he had never thought of himself as a fast man with a gun, he had beaten Kerb Dahl who was so considered.

  He had also known of more than one man who had been shot through and through and had still continued to shoot, and accurately. And that was what he must do.

  If he got out of this at all, and what was more important, if he got Dixie out of it, he could only do so by thinking clearer and acting with greater certainty.

  He would get hit. He faced that, accepted it, and fixed the idea in his mind that he would continue to shoot, and with care. This was one man he had to kill.

  Thunder rumbled, and a few spattering drops of rain fell. His next remark came so casually, so naturally that even Star Levitt accepted it. "Better get your slicker, Dixie," he said cooly. "You'll get wet."

  His eyes were riveted on Star Levitt, and what he waited for happened. As Dixie started to move, Levitt's eyes flickered for a fraction of an instant, and in that instant Bill Canavan went for his gun.

  Levitt's gun flamed, but his eyes swung back and he shot too quickly, the bullet ripping by Canavan's head just as Canavan thumbed the hammer of his gun.

  Once. ... Again. He walked in on the big man intent only upon getting as much lead into him as possible. A bullet creased his arm and, involuntarily, he dropped his gun. Instantly he drew with his left hand. ... He wasn't quite as good with the left, but at this range. ...

  Levitt's shirt was red with blood, and he fired into the red patch. Then he tilted the muzzle a fraction and put a round, blue hole at the base of Levitt's throat.

  Yet the man wouldn't go down. He staggered, caught himself, started to bring his gun in line with Canavan's body. Cooly, Canavan took a step to the left, planted his foot solidly, and fired again and again.

  Slowly, Levitt crumpled. He fell back on his left hand, staring up at Canavan with those magnificent eyes. "Next time I'll." The hand crumpled under him and he lay face up to the rain, eyes wide, unblinking.

  Canavan turned sharply. "Get into that slicker.

  We've got to get out of here!"

  The echoing of the gunfire died away and there was only the rain. He did not look at Levitt, simply turning away and picking up his dropped gun.

  Dixie caught at him. "You're hurt. You're bleeding!"

  "No time for that now." Surprisingly, he did not seem to be hurting, and felt no weakness. If he was hit. ... Of course, he had been hit on the arm ... but it wasn't bothering him much. Something else was.

  He was thinking of the crevasse through which they must ride, and those great, hanging slabs.

  Fighting his way into his slicker, he saw Dixie swing to the saddle and gallop out to make a swing around the cattle and start them toward the opening.

  Surprisingly, the big steer who took the lead headed into the crack as if it had done so before, and in fact many of the cattle must have fed both in and outside the crater.

  Waving Dixie ahead of him, he followed her into the cleft, casting scared glances aloft. He grabbed a stone off a small ledge and hurled it at a laggard cow.

  "Get going!" he yelled, and pushed hard. The cattle were moving, moving too slowly.

  Suddenly, something ... somewhere, started them moving faster, then faster. Now they were running, and Dixie's horse was scrambling at the rocks right behind them.

  He glanced up as they neared the narrowest part. Horror filled him, for that great, hanging slab had seemed to move.

  "Hum. he yelled. "Use your rope!

  Keep them running!"

  Dixie glanced up and he saw her face as a white, scared blotch in the driving rain. A thin trickle of stones fell, splashing into the cleft, and pools of water were gathering here and there. Canavan looked up again, and this time there was no doubt. The great slab moved, grated horribly against the rock beneath, and sent another trickle of stones ahead to scout the path. The rock started to move again, hesitated, then its great table-top inclined almost majestically. And with gathering speed, it started to slide!

  Shale and gravel rattled down the cliff, an
d his horse leaped forward, pushing against Flame. And Flame in turn pushed against the laggard steer. It leaped ahead, and Flame scrambled after. With shouts and yells he urged the cattle on, andwitha coiled rope Dixie lashed out at the nearest. They began to trot again, then to run. From behind them came a great reverberating roar and, turning in the saddle, he glanced back.

  He was somewhat higher now, out of the worst of the cleft, and he could see the great rock slide the last of its distance to the sheer edge, pushing rocks and boulders before it. Then, on the very lip, it held itself, balanced for a breathless instant and then it fell.

  It struck somewhere far below, and there was a great rush of air up the cleft in the rock. Rio leaped nervously, and tugged at the bit to get on. Now the whole side seemed to be sliding down into the crevasse.

  On a small open space where the cleft widened at a somewhat higher level, they drew up and sat their saddles in the rain, looking back. "It's a tomb," she said, "a tomb wide open to the sky. Nobody will ever find him now."

  The wolves will," he said, "and the cougars."

  She shuddered. "What an awful thing! Do you suppose it is really closed?"

  Canavan shrugged. "There may have been some other way. I never had the time to look. Or maybe a man who was a good rock climber could get in ... or out. I wouldn't try it."

  The pounding rain beat upon their hats and their shoulders, and they drove the cattle slowly out upon the widening plain, then left them and started for the mesa.

  Canavan thought of his guns, and one by one he reloaded them, returning them to their holsters. He had started packing two six-shooters when he rode shotgun on the stage. For a man might need firepower against a sudden attack by Indians or outlaws, yet it was the first time since those days that he had had any use for that second gun.

  Burt ran from the cabin as they rode up, taking their bridles. "Get inside an' get dry!" he yelled.